Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl’s Top 5 Street Food Kabob Recipes

July 14, 2014 11:28 AM

(credit: saveur.com)

“Off the Menu” with Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl is heard Saturday mornings from 11:00-Noon on News Radio 830 WCCO! Each show at 11:20 she shares her “Top 5” of the week. On Saturday, July 12th she’s sharing her Top 5 Street Food Kabob Recipes.

On of our show sponsors, Nordicware, sent Dara a couple of their new grilling items, and she’s been having the most fun with them. She’s over the moon about this big new grilling kabob they have. They call it a Cactus Kabob (click here to see and buy online). It has three-prongs that kind of end up looking like a Saguaro Cactus if you hold it up to the light. What Dara really likes about it is that the kabob-skewers are wide and angled in such a way that you can do some really advanced, yet easy stuff.

You could mold meatballs around them so the meatballs don’t fall off—like Middle Eastern doner kebab skewers. Or get thin slices of chicken thigh to stay on. Using this kabob made Dara remember that so many cultures around the world have great skewer, kabob or whatever you want to call it street-food cultures. We thought it would be fun to pull together a Top 5 Recipes and ideas for backyard grilling you can make a dinner party around!

The classic Greek dish of pork souvlaki couldn’t be easier. You just buy a pork shoulder, cube it up, marinate it, and you’re on your way to a restaurant-quality dish fit to feed a crowd. Either buy tzatziki ready-made from the co-ops (Gardens of Salonica has a great one) or throw together your own cucumber, mint, and yogurt sauce. Oil pita breads and grill them with onion slices in a grill pan to add crunch. If you do this, you will be popular.

This is purely out of Dara’s love for Ingebretsen’s, the classic Scandinavian immigrant market on Lake Street. You can use your favorite Swedish meatball recipe if you like. It’s easy-peasy. Just take your meatball mixture, put it on a skewer, serve with some lingonberry preserves and a nice Riesling. If you want to do potatoes on the grill, Dara recommends you boil them in water inside, then warm them up over the grill. Add a little rosemary and olive oil in a grill-basket for the perfect side.

Ground lamb and beef kabobs are phenomenally popular throughout India, the Middle East, and Turkey. Raghavan Iyer, the fantastic Minnesotan cooking teacher and cookbook author, has a super-simple Mumbai street-food version with all of 5 ingredients and a little salt! Make sure you find garam masala and use it for the authentic Indian spice that sets the dish off. This is so good.

This is the traditional, classic Japanese way of making a drinking snack. Andrew Zimmern has a great recipe on Food & Wine which uses lots of green scallions and squares of chicken thighs. It’s a beautiful recipe and good for even non-adventurous groups. Serve with rice, Japanese beer or sake, and a big salad.

Dara loves Epicurious’ Tacos al Pastor Marinade. It’s made with pineapple and chili for that awesome sweet and heat combo. It’s just easy and good. Grill some pineapple slices too, and use store-bought or your home-made salsa. Don’t forget to make a pitcher of margaritas! Corn tortillas warmed up directly over coals are the best.